This classic introductory text to the history of women in the 20th century, originally published in 1992, explores women's experiences as they worked to win personal autonomy, sexual freedom, economic independence, and legal rights. Examining women's lives in the larger context of U.S. history, Rosalind Rosenberg shows how American habits of federalism, racial and ethnic diversity, geographic mobility, and relative abundance have both aided and hindered women's strives towards equality. This revised edition includes an updated preface and a new chapter and bibliographic essay reflecting more recent history and scholarship.

"This social and political history surveys … the lives of women 'divided between paid and domestic labor, and divided from one another.' Rosenberg … is no polemicist. She blends various strains of women's history—those that stress women's identity with or differences from men and the fundamental divisions of class, race and religion—into a larger perspective. With sketches of women from birth control advocate Margaret Sanger to civil rights and feminist activist Pauli Murray, Rosenberg skillfully advances the narrative, taking care not to focus just on the white middle class. While not ignoring institutional changes such as the fight for suffrage, Rosenberg also tracks social issues such as the advance of women in World War II and the debate over lesbianism in the women's movement."—Publishers Weekly